Rob Lowe as Colonel Sanders Is Perfect Pitch: “Not Because It Is Easy”

Rob Lowe joins the All-Star lineup of recent Colonel Sanders impersonators to launch — quite literally — the KFC Zinger sandwich. It’s perfect because ever since Lowe left his job as a punchline (see Disney/Oscars) and started delivering punchlines instead in places like Austin Powers movies and DirecTV commercials, he has utterly mastered the zinger. Just listen to Lowe deliver the line about why KFC “hand-breads” the Zinger sandwich: “Not because it’s easy, but because it is hard.” Pitch perfect. Comedians Jim Gaffigan, Norm Macdonald, and Darrell Hammond have played the Colonel Sanders role recently with no greater comic effect than Lowe displays.

Lowe has done many serious roles too, most memorably in The West Wing. But if you want more of his zinger-launching and comedic timing — his perfectly dripping irony — check out The Grinder, a TV series with Fred Savage of The Wonder Years. Lowe is pure comic poetry in his role as a former TV lawyer. One episode of The Grinder and you’ll see why no one in Hollywood could launch a “space sandwich” better Lowe.